Self Introduction

A. Work in small groups and answer the questions orally:

Question 1.
How many members are there in your family?
Answer:
There are five members in my family.

Question 2.
How many among them are female?
Answer:
Two among them are female.

Question 3.
Do you love your mother?
Answer:
Of course, I love my mother very much.

Question 4.
Do you respect her?
Answer:
Yes, I respect her dearly.

Question 5.
How does your father treat your mother?
Answer:
My father treats my mother with love, respect and equality.

B. Answer the following questions very briefly:

Question 1.
Why does the woman call herself ordinary?
Answer:
The woman calls her ordinary because her creativity is ordinary.

Question 2.
To what is an ordinary woman’s creativity confined?
Answer:
An ordinary woman’s creativity is confined to home and children, to carpet and curios, labelling books and tying up a shoelace.

Question 3.
Why does the sensitivity of the ordinary woman suffer blows?
Answer:
The sensitivity of the ordinary woman suffers blows because she can not express herself.

Question 4.
How long has the woman been Irving with her husband?
Answer:
The woman has been living with her husband for a decade.

Question 5.
Why is the woman unable to express her anguish?
Answer:
The woman is unable to express her anguish because she has hardened like a tortoiseshell.

Question 6.
What is the tag which is attached to an ordinary woman?
Answer:
The tag of home and children is attached to an ordinary woman.

Question 7.
With what jobs has the woman been associated?
Answer:
The woman has been associated with the jobs of the housewife and bringing up her children.

Question 8.
How might the woman be made extraordinary?
Answer:
The woman might be made extraordinary at the cost of a few had dry tears.

Question 9.
How does the woman visualise in this connection?
Answer:
The woman visualises in this connection that it is daring for the tears to crack through.

C.1. Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
Who is the speaker of the poem? How does she introduce herself?
Answer:
The poetess a woman is the speaker of the poem. She introduces herself as an ordinary woman. Her creativity is confined to her home and children. She keeps carpets and curios before her. She is labelling the books and ties up the shoelaces.

Question 2.
The second stanza depicts great mental suffering and physical pain of a woman. Elaborate.
Answer:
In this stanza, she has been suffering regular blows for a decade. She feels mental pain. The image of a woman suffering silently is very evocative. Her image is in tortoiseshell. The shell is so strong that the soul cannot come out. Her soul is entrapped. But remain silent.

Question 3.
Do you think that the ‘ordinary woman’ of the first stanza becomes rebellious in the last stanza? Which line(s) indicates it? Explain.
Answer:
In the first stanza, she is an ordinary woman. She laments the creativity that has been too ordinary things. But in the last stanza, the ordinary woman becomes rebellious. Now, she wants to be extraordinary. She is ready to pay the cost of leaving her ordinariness behind.
The lines are:
“To he made extraordinary perhaps
At the cost of a few sad dry tears
That might dare to crack through!”

Question 4.
Write a summary of the poem in your own words.
Answer:
See the summary of the poem given before.

Question 5.
The poem depicts the plight of the housewives in general. Do you agree?
Answer:
Yes, I agree to this point. Every housewife has to do the same work and for such work, she has to suffer the same sad plight. She works day long to keep the home in order. She takes pains to keep the house in orders. She does everything for her children and husband from labelling books to tying up shoelaces. She remains calm and suffers. She thinks herself in the cage. This is the form of our society.

Question 6.
Comment on the Juxtaposition of carpets and curio in the poem.
Answer:
Carpets and curios are the articles kept in any drawing-room of an ordinary man. They are articles to decorate floors and room. They are kept for pleasure, and to have a fine show before newcomers. The housewife keeps them according to her wish. They appear to be a juxtaposition. This is what the case of an ordinary woman is.